Former President Olusegun Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo have described the experiences of African countries at this time as perilous, citing political instability and military incursions in parts of the continent.
The duo spoke at the opening session of a two-day dialogue organised by the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa captioned, ‘West Africa: Rising to the challenges of consolidating democratic governance,’ held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The forum, which also had former President Goodluck Jonathan, the former Vice-President of The Gambia, Fatoumata Tambajanb; former President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma; and Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun; among others, in attendance, brainstormed on how to strengthen democracy in West Africa.
Osinbajo bemoaned military incursion into democracy in some African countries, saying, “This is a moment of peril for democracy in our region because we are navigating a perfect storm of adverse circumstances, a world economy that is reeling from recessional shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, price and supply disruption from the war in Ukraine, the emergency of armed non-state actors and poor challenges associated with catering for the youngest populations in the world.”
He urged the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and other African organisations to rise up to the challenge and do more in ensuring political and economic stability of West Africa and Africa at large.
“We must not allow our continent to become as it was in the cold war era. A fetter of proxy wars and great power conflict, we know from experience that this would result in the recession of democratic values in Africa.
“The militarisation of civil society, whether by local military regimes or rival foreign military-industrial complexes, can only set us back by several decades.
“Our commitment to democratization must be predicated on the aspiration of our people and not from the whims of foreign powers.
“The recent spate of military coups across our continent and attempts at military coups not only portends the risk of a damaging democratic recession, but it also takes us back to the circles of extra-constitutional disruptions that plagued us decades ago.
“Since 2017, there has been 12 military coups in Africa and half of them occurred since 2020. Two months ago, the democratically elected government of Burkina Faso was overthrown, while only in February, there was an attempted coup in Genuine Bissau which was thankfully repealed.
“This much is clear, we know that we cannot secure the Africa that we want by turning back the hands of the democratic clock. We have walked these thorny roads before, we have many decades’ worth of bitter experience and impeachable lessons in our history, a clear lesson of our history is that despotism cannot guarantee the security and prosperity of our people.
“No matter how dire our circumstances may be, we now have concrete proof that resorting to extra-constitutional regimes is not the way forward,” Osinbajo said.
Obasanjo, who chaired the meeting, condemned the military takeover of democratically elected governments in some African countries, stressing that democracy in West Africa and, indeed, Africa required urgent attention.
He lamented that coup d’etat, election fraud, political violence and instability had crippled the growth of Africa.
The former president insisted that governance through the gun would not help Africa, stressing that the continent needed “a peaceful democracy that has respect for the will of the people and the future of our nations.
“In recent years, we have witnessed a return of coup d’etat, election fraud and political violence resulting in instability and threatening the developmental gains we have made in the last couple of decades.
“I feel very sad and it gives me great concern when I see the democratic system we have painfully built collapsing. And, I believe there must be a solution because the problem is human and all human problems can be solved by human beings.
“That is why the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, under my Chairmanship and the OOPL, have brought all of us together today to discuss pertinent issues affecting governance in West Africa, including the challenges, and then to seek the way forward.
“Achieving this may not be easy but it is a must if we want our nation to make progress, it must entail responsible management of diversity which makes everyone feel a sense of belonging and be a significant part of the whole.
“Peaceful coexistence has been a hallmark of Africans even before the emergence of the colonial era and we cannot accept anything less in this modern age.
“We need stable environment to grow our economies and ensure that countries develop in a sustainable way. Such all-inclusive democratic environment will fast track development of our economy and will strengthen our security and promote general progress.”
